Eclectic Society
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[edit] Eclectic Society (1)
The Eclectic Society was founded in 1783 by a number of Anglican clergymen and layman as a discussion society and was instrumental in the founding of the Church Missionary Society in 1799. Its early members included John Newton,(1725-1807) clergyman, poet and John Venn (1759-1813) rector of Clapham and founder of Church Missionary Society, and and Richard Cecil. The Eclectic Society met fortnightly in the vestry of St John's Chapel, Bedford Road, London. It first discussed foreign missions in 1786 and the subject was subsequently discussed again in 1789 and 1791 as there was a growing realization of the scope for a society to evangelise indigenous peoples around the world. Foreign missions was again discussed in 1796, by which time both the Baptist and London Missionary Societies had been founded, but it was not until three years later that action was taken.
In 1797, Josiah Pratt, a clergyman from Birmingham who came to London as a curate, joined the Eclectic Society and in February 1799 he proposed the following question for discussion: "How far may a periodical Publication be made subservient to the interest of Religion?" The discussions led, two years later, to the starting of the Christian Observer which became for much of the nineteenth century a valuable organ of Evangelical principles and work. The following month, the subject for discussion was "What methods can we use more effectually to promote the knowledge of the Gospel among the Heathen?" and it was ultimately resolved at this meeting to form a society. At a public meeting in April, the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East was formed. Reference: Eugene Stock, History of the Church Missionary Society, Vol 1 (London 1899).
[edit] Eclectic Society (2)
Eclectic Society is a coed college fraternity at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. In the 1850s a Beta Chapter existed for ten years at Ohio Wesleyan University and a Gamma Chapter enjoyed a month's existence at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, but both succumbed to the perturbations accompanying the Civil War or to anti-fraternity sentiment among faculty members. Thereafter, the only chapter was the Alpha Chapter at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. The Eclectic Society was founded in 1837 on campus in North College, making it one of older fraternal college organizations in the United States. The early Wesleyan societies adopted English names, and not Greek ones; but Eclectic quickly adopted a motto the Greek initials of which are Phi Nu Theta and the society operated under both names.
[edit] One society or two?
In 1970, the undergraduates broke ranks with their alumni, the primary issue at the time being one of recreational drug use. There is a serious and ongoing question as to whether the current organization is a continuation of the old or not. After a wrenching crisis at the annual meeting of alumni, the alumni severed ties with the undergraduate institution and dissolved the Socratic Literary Society alumni organization, at the same time, the undergraduates abandoned the initiation ceremony and the constitution, women were elected to membership, the name "Phi Nu Theta" was abandoned as sounding too much like a Greek-letter fraternity. At the same time, the alumni closed the Alpha Dining Club, the permanent staff (housekeeper and chef) were let go, and the house was sold to the university. For some, the new organization was entirely different, and any connection to the older organization was utterly severed; for others, the new organization continues the principles and community position of the old. In recent years, the students living in Eclectic have attempted to rebuild connections to the older alumni with events during Homecoming and Family Weekend and Commencement & Reunion Weekend.
Because of the prestige of the older organization, the prominent position played by the current organization in student life, and other factors, the Wesleyan University administration has never fully pushed the issue of whether the old Eclectic and the new Eclectic were two organizations or one, and for 36 years the house has continued on in this state of ambiguity.
[edit] Eclectic Society of Phi Nu Theta to 1970
The backbone of the early society was the dining club, called the Alpha Club, which survived into the 1970s.
The original society may not have survived the stresses of the Civil War without the tireless dedication of William North Rice, '65, who later went on to become a Professor at the University for 51 years and several times acting President. He was universally regarded as the guiding spirit of the society through the 1920s.
The alumni organization was incorporated by the Connecticut legislature as the Socratic Literary Society in 1870.
The first permanent house for the society was the construction of a house in 1882 on a site behind the current Campus Center on Cross Street, this had no residential accomodations for undergraduates, and was used primarily for meetings and the dining facilities. The society in 1906 hired Henry Bacon, formerly of the architectural firm McKim, Mead and White to design a Doric Greek revival structure at 200 High Street. The house is an exemplary design for group living. Many people see the Eclectic house as a design precursor to Bacon's later Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In 1912, at the seventy-fifth reunion of the society, one alumnus reported that after a detailed analysis of the academic standing of each college fraternity chapter at every major university in America, Phi Nu Theta had the highest academic ranking of any chapter of any fraternity in the country.
Noted alumni of the old Phi Nu Theta Eclectic include the Congressman and banker Fredrick Morgan Davenport,Walter Wriston, who presided over the development of modern consumer banking and the ATM while serving as president and CEO of Citibank, now known as Citicorp, and Gerald L. Baliles, former Governor of Virginia. The list also includes several Wesleyan University Presidents, including Joseph Cummings, '40, (former President of Genessee College, later President of Northwestern), Cyrus D. Foss '54, John W. Beach '45, William North Rice '65 (Acting), Stephen Henry Olin,'66 (Acting), John Monroe VanVleck '50(Acting), and Edwin Deacon Etherington, '48.
Many buildings on Wesleyan University's campus are named after prominent Eclectic members, such as Crowell Concert Hall, Olin Memorial Library (Stephen Henry Olin, '65 and his father), Hall and Atwater Labs, the Zilkha Gallery (Ezra Khedouri Zilka, '46 and his wife), and the Van Vleck Observatory, (John Monroe VanVleck).
[edit] Eclectic Society since 1970
The current society has operated without a constitution for extended periods, and has adopted a Quaker-style consensus decision-making system.
Alumni of the newer Eclectic include Chris Wink, co-founder of Blue Man Group; Jem Cohen, an independent film maker who has worked with R.E.M. and Fugazi, professor Edward M. Kennedy Jr., Joss Whedon, creator of such TV shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, and Indiana Reay Neidell, the Grammy-winning Swedish rockstar.
The script for the film PCU was written by Wesleyan students Adam Leff and Zak Penn, (not members but regulars at the house), and is derived from life and characters in that house at the time. The early scenes at the house in PCU refer to the older, formerly prestigious organization.
